Curtis Morgan, Environmental Writer for the Herald wrote these two columns (One with the help of Amy Driscoll): Condo tries to bury its past life as a dump and Plan to treat ammonia lake falls shortBoth are pretty good columns -- one a history of the Biscayne Landing Development and a history of the site problems when it was called Munisport. The second article is about the Biscayne Landing failed EXPERIMENTAL remediation.
I have some quibbles.... This is pretty much a lot more than an environmental story. And the environmental story is bigger with law firms and lobbyists feverously working the county, as you read, to change the agreed upon methods of cleanup. Lastly, the article is buried on Saturday when only dolts like me read the paper.
And Mayor Kevin Burns: You should be pushing for the cleanup not minimizing. This is too important. You know better. You should care that this is done right and that there are no corners cut. This is health of people and the environment. Stand up for that!
The colorful Michael Swerdlow, now infamous around Florida and New York with his deals, is hardly mentioned in the article. Take the money and run, is that it? Swerdlow engineered the whole deal. Has he left Brian Street's, Boca Developers, holding a very heavy lead weight? I did find a $50,000,000 mortgage that Swerdlow was holding on Biscayne Landing. Was that deal to dissolve the partnership or just part of it?
As I previously said, I was at the meetings when the bidders made presentations on their bid. It was very clear that the developers bid --- with the cleanup included in the bid. Again: The cleanup was part of the bid! (An aside: Affordable housing was also a main component of every presentation.)
In 1996, well before Swerdlow came along, the City and County entered into an agreement involving a 20 million dollar grant from the county paid by a solid waste department bond issue. Under this agreement, the city of North Miami would receive 1 million dollars each year to assist in Munisport remediation and closure efforts. All the bidders knew about this sum when they bid on the clean up and the development. That money comes from the WHOLE county.
In January 2004: the City Commission agreed to enter into a new agreement with the County to accept 49 million dollars, ostensibly to be used to clean up the landfill, this would supercede the previous $20 million which was already agreed upon.
There was a clause in the Biscayne Landing contract that required the City of North Miami to "request" additional funds. If the idiotic county didn't give it to them, the developer would have had to pay as required for the entire clean-up. The County instead gave them EXTRA funds (the magic of lobbying). So now thanks to a REAL LOT OF LOBBYING, headed by Clifford Schulman of Greenberg Trauig, rather than one million a year, the city --really Biscayne Landing since per a separate City/Biscayne Landing agreement the developer would do the cleanup-- would receive 3.6 million for the first 12 years.
In fact, according to a letter dated Sept. 1, 2004 from the South Florida Water Management District:
"the Environmental Resource permit issued by the District is only for conceptual approval. No construction has been authorized. When an application is filed for construction authorization, it must be consistent with any landfill closure requirements pursuant to the FDEP permit and groundwater remediation plan authorized by DERM."
Well SFWMD, did you sign off on construction without the groundwater remediation? There are two buildings out there. DERM had a groundwater remediation plan that was not followed because the developers tried to substitute the experimental remediation. The time period of that experimental remediation pilot study was extended, and extended and extended. Meanwhile people are moving in and the groundwater is still not cleaned and now LOBBYISTS are trying to get the remediation changed (the meeting next month that Reporter Morgan mentioned).
Now, according to the article, it might cost us all us county residents more. I don't think so. We are not making any of the profit (in this case it might be a loss) and I think $49,000,000 is plenty. Don't get suckered into paying more. The Morgan article states the ammonia level is 200 times greater than it should be. Let's clean it already. This has been going on far too long.
I remember when Mayor Frank Wolland wanted to make the whole site into one very large park and was talking to the county park's dept. about it. I liked that idea. Don't get me started on what they did with the affordable housing that was suppose to be included in the DRI. That really makes me mad. Ick.
See my previous post: Biscayne Landing: What's cooking underground?
16 comments:
Wonder why Kevin Burns is cutting corners? Mitigation cuts many different ways...
Please don't infer Mayor Burns is any way at fault here. The deal was set in stone long before he got elected. And to suggest that Wolland's idea was a good one...well it just makes me gag. Much like everything else he did when he was mayor. Whoever is behind pushing this issue with the Herald should gulp down some of that ammonia laced lake water. There are far too many other serious issues in our dangerously unstable world that need attending to that this just comes off as pathetic.
Why are private developers allowed to build expensive-unaffordable housing in walking distance of a state university catering to poor and working class students and both are located over dumps? What kind of land-transit planning is this public give-a-away? This is just STUPID GREED!
I read the Herald article and this blog article and neither inferred mayor burns was responsible, the blog seemed to be saying that rather than be a cheerleader for the development he should coax them to clean up the contaminated water. What is wrong with that? This cleanup has been stalled for over 10 years. when is enough enough?
I am quite disappointed with anon 2.
Anon 2, they have $49,000,000 of our county dollars to clean up the site. FORTY NINE MILLION OF OUR TAX DOLLARS. If there is an issue you want that $49 million to go towards tell them. But since they have OUR money to clean up the damn site. Let them use it to clean up the damn site and stop stalling. What does having an unstable world have to do with local politics anyway. Stay the course - clean the site.
Burns has you snowed. He is a developers best friend.
According to the herald they closed on 93 units in the 3 or 4 years they have been selling them. they are selling 25 or 30 a year? That is about $46 million. This development is losing a lot of money no wonder they are selling bulk. And if it so safe to live there, why did they have to hire a biologist to help sales people downplay the superfund concerns.
Well since Miami is full of plastic people then people might as well live over a landfill filled with .... plastic, why not!
There is a bigger story here.
A K1-8 was built on the site.
And since only a small amount of the 270 acres was ever tested (and found to have benzene, mercury, arsenic, pcb's etc), no wone knows what lurks beneath the school.
And since soil was only tested at 1" depth instead of the 30" recommended, no one knows the potential harm to the children who will be attending this site for the next 8 years!!
It is amazing that parents believe their school board and developer reassurances, and do not ask questions...only in Miami!
There is a can of worms lurking here..and I am sure they are all deformed, cancerous hermaphrodites.
You know, there is not enough time in the day or energy to deal with all the corruption in this world of ours.
Where are the folks we can trust, we can believe in, who do the right things for the right reasons?
It is depressing.
FYI, the school is built adjacent to, not on, the site.
How can you know that it was not built on dum site?
And what does adjacement mean?
That sounds pretty close..
Would you send your child to attend a school"adjacent" to a superfund site without proper clean up and ongoing testing?
This entire blog site is littered with finger-pointing, accusatory, damning talking heads. You people need to get a life.
An anonymous troll from the depths of the Munisport dump superfund site is telling concerened people who post to this blog to get a life. How cute.
we are joinig forces, if you closed on a biscayne landing unit and feel deceived please please e mail geoyeso@yahoo.com. please join us together we can do something.
Boca Developers has turned over the Oaks 1 towers to their lender but not the land surrounding the buildings that was to be used for the Building Amenities and more importantly a security perimeter for the community. That land right in front of the two towers now lays abandoned with a half constructed pool full of dirty water and mosquitoes. Boca Developers operating as BLIA Developers aka Biscayne Landing is refusing to give the Oaks 1 community and the lender the intended land needed to complete the and possibly sell any of the remaining units. All of the residents currently residing in the towers feel that they have been swindled. During their closing they were reassured by Boca Developers that the first phase (Building, Amenities, and Security Perimeter) would be completed within the year. They now own and live in half developed community that has no chance of succeeding with out the needed land. There is no method of securing the community perimeter, there are not amenities for the residents and I have spotted children playing in the building’s catwalks because there is nowhere for them to play.
Countless times the defrauded residents of Oaks 1 have asked the mayor and other city officials to please assist them in getting the land adjacent to the building from Boca Developers. The Mayor’s response to the residents have been very disheartening telling them there is nothing he or the city can do despite the fact that city is owner of the land and they are currently leasing the aforementioned land to Boca developers. Even more interesting is the fact that Boca Developers has also defaulted on payments to the city in amounts totaling over 2 million dollars in fees for that land. Residents at Biscayne Landing are under the impression that Boca Developers has lined the pockets of the city’s mayor, Mr Kevin Burns!
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